


Lost in the Snow

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 16:09:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11855094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Jack and Z get lost in the snow. Warning for language. Jack belongs to SSO-Jack-Wolfwatcher and Z belongs to ZDusk.





	Lost in the Snow

Jack didn’t know who was shivering more as he sat on the back of Sportahorse and followed Z around the Valley of Frozen Mist. This place was famously hard to get to, but Louisa had written down some coordinates and given them some vague directions. Of course she hadn’t come along, though, stating that “I would rather not freeze to death”. Australians were so sensitive to the cold. But honestly, being here, Jack couldn’t blame her for wanting to stay home where it was warm and sunny.

“Any sparkly rocks yet?” asked Jack, digging his hands deep into the pockets of his jacket that he’d thought was going to be warm enough.

“Nope,” said Z, squinting to see through the snow. “Not that I can see anything.” Jack sighed, and Sportahorse snorted in agreement. It was way too cold here for this shit.

“Well, I won’t be much help,” said Jack. “I got Louisa to do this for me.”

“Lazy,” said Z.

“I had shit to do, okay? And was it lazy or clever?” asked Jack. Z stuck her tongue out at him, which a snowflake promptly landed on.

“Oh wait, there’s one,” said Z, riding Phantom over to one of the sparkling rocks and dismounting. Jack dismounted to watch, keeping clear of the pickaxe so he could help Z pick through the debris to find bones.

Once the dust had cleared, Jack knelt beside his friend and sorted through the debris. Honestly, the weirdest shit turned up in here, but some of it sold for a lot.

“Finally!” Z cheered, raising a red-tinged bone into the air. It was what Louisa referred to as a ‘noodle bone’, and it did somewhat resemble spiral pasta.

“Congrats,” said Jack, grinning and holding up a hand for a high five. Z grinned and exuberantly high-fived him, then turned to put the bone away in her backpack. “Ow!”

“What?” asked Z, turning to look at Jack, and covered her mouth with her hands when she realised what had happened. “Jack, I’m so sorry.” Jack was busy rubbing his nose.

“Apparently your over-enthusiastic nature doesn’t mix well with your lack of accuracy and coordination skills, because in your excitement I just got high-fived in the face. You’re lucky I like you, you dork,” said Jack. “Man, I hope that’s not gonna bleed.”

“We’ll know when we get to a warmer climate,” said Z. “I’m really sorry, Jack.”

“It’s fine,” said Jack, sniffing and wiping his fingers under his nose. Not that he’d see much on black wool, and he wasn’t about to take his gloves off out here.

“Well, I’ve got what I came for, let’s head home,” said Z. “I’ll just be lazy and call for pick-up.” She dialled a number on her phone, then put it to her ear. “Robert, hey! Can you come pick me up? Where I am? I’m in Dino Val- hello?” She frowned at her phone. “He hung up on me!”

“What, he didn’t want to drive all the way out here to pick up your lazy ass? Shocker,” said Jack with a roll of his eyes.

“Never mind, we’ll just try to find the road,” said Z. She started off in one direction, but Jack looked around for another way to get out of these woods.

“Uh, I think we came that way,” said Jack, pointing.

“No, we came this way, I recognise the tree,” said Z.

“All the fucking trees here look the same,” said Jack.

“And Louisa’s directions just say ‘keep riding until you get out of the trees’,” said Z. “Very specific. What trees?”

“The frozen ones,” said Jack. Z snorted with laughter.

They rode around in the frozen valley for a while, and soon found themselves in another patch of frozen trees. These ones had no leaves on them, however, and looked very much dead.

“That’s it, I’m calling her,” said Z. “Her bad directions got us lost so she can just come in here and get us.”

“Please hurry,” said Jack. “Sport can’t feel his hooves anymore.”

“She’s on her way,” said Z after a quick conversation.

“Good,” said Jack. “Does she know where we are?”

“She’ll find us,” said Z. “This is one of her favourite places on Jorvik, after all.”

“True,” said Jack. “Let’s huddle together for warmth?”

“It’s too cold not to,” said Z. Sport shuffled as close to Phantom as he was comfortable being, and the two of them shivered together while they waited.

Finally, a dark horse appeared out of the mist and walked slowly towards them, holding on its back a rider bundled up in warm clothes.

“Screw your dramatic effect, it’s too fucking cold for this shit,” said Jack.

“Fine,” said Louisa, and rode towards them faster. Her dark bay North Swedish mare kicked up snow as she ran, and she looked around at her snowy surroundings while her rider spoke to her friends.

“What took you so long?” asked Z, rubbing her hands together to warm them before grabbing Phantom’s reins.

“I made the mistake of bringing Solidheart,” said Louisa. “She can’t help but play around in the snow.”

“She may be the only horse that actually likes it,” said Jack. “My horses hated it.”

“That probably had more to do with my riding style,” said Louisa. Sport tossed his head in agreement. “Sorry about that, by the way.”

“No harm done,” said Jack. “Now, let’s go home.”

“I’ll lead you two out of the snowy wasteland like a Saint Bernard,” said Louisa.

“Do you have rum?” asked Z.

“No but I’ll make you guys some hot chocolate once we reach the mainland,” said Louisa.

“Good,” said Jack. “It’s your fault we got lost here.”

“Yeah, sorry, I suck at directions,” said Louisa.

“It’s fine, at least you’re leading us home,” said Z.

“Yep, and I know that we can take a shortcut across the lake,” said Louisa, brightening up. “Follow me.”

The three of them rode across the lake, though Louisa struggled to get Solidheart to stay on the right track. She kept wanting to dart off into the snow and play, like a foal. But eventually, the three of them stood in the rickety old elevator while it took them up to the top of the valley.

Jack’s nose began to hurt as they rode into the warmer climate, but it didn’t bleed. That was good, at least.

“I’ll meet you guys at your place, Louisa, I’m just going to drop off these bones first,” said Z, riding into the horse trailer.

Z made another stop on her way to Louisa’s place, so she arrived wearing the full Winter Master set.

“Very nice,” said Louisa, clapping as Z walked in. Z did a little twirl.

“Thank you, thank you,” said Z, bowing. “Please tell me the hot chocolate’s done.”

“Here,” said Louisa, sliding it across the table as Z sat down. Z wrapped her hands around it, sighing happily as the warmth seeped into her fingers through the gloves.

“Much better,” said Z. She took a sip. “And delicious.”

“Thank you,” said Louisa. “And sorry for giving such bad directions.”

“Well, I won’t need to go back there,” said Z. “But if I do, you can come with me since you know where you’re going.”

“That’s fair,” said Louisa.


End file.
